The weather is cooling off (finally), and the leaves are starting to change. It’s fall, and t Why clean up your microprairie? After all, aren’t we supposed to keep the dead plant debris on the prairie where it can break down and feed the microbial life while returning the carbon to the soil and keeping […]
It’s fall! Putting your microprairie to bed Read More »
After this exceptionally hot, dry summer, I’m looking forward to the rainy, cool days of fall. But before everything goes dormant for winter here in the Up North, we still have one or two good months to do a little more gardening. Yup, late summer/early fall is a great time to add to your microprairie.
There’s still time to grow your microprairie Read More »
How’s everything going in your microprairie this week? When I think of gardens, I mostly think of flowers and vegetables. But in the real world outside our yards, prairies need more than just flowers, they also need grasses. In fact, native prairies are made up of about 50% grasses. A lot of species of
Adding grasses to your microprairie: Prairie dropseed Read More »
I took a little road trip recently that was supposed to be just a weekend getaway, but it kind of turned into a prairie restoration mini-tour. Everyone should drive down U.S. Highway 61 anyway, and I intend to drive it’s entire length someday, from Grand Portage at the very tip of Minnesota’s arrowhead to New
A little prairie road trip Read More »
Tips for helping your garden beat the heat. In case you haven’t been outside lately… It’s hot out there! The dog days of summer usually mean hot, humid weather, but this year the dogs have been barking pretty early. Is the heat this year due to climate change? Probably not. We get these hot, dry
A friend of mine decided to start his own microprairie last year. But when he walked into his local garden center and asked if they had any milkweed, the employee there said, “What do you want that for? It’s a weed.” Sigh. You might notice that a lot of plants have the word “weed” in
A butterfly buffet: milkweed Read More »
Rethinking the garden after a disaster The drought finally broke in the garden this week, at least for a while, but drought or no drought, the wild bergamot burst into bloom, each blossom like little lavender fireworks, and the bees went wild for it. So while I was pretty down for a couple days about
I didn’t really think much of coneflowers until I planted some in my yard last year and go to know them. That’s when I found that coneflowers are a great foundation for not just a native prairie garden, but any flower garden. Easy to grow, heat and drought tolerant, they bloom from mid-summer right through
Coneflowers: Pretty, adaptable and a bee magnet Read More »
Invasive plants aren’t always what we think. This is creeping bellflower. It’s cute, it’s a pretty purple, the bees love it. And I hate it. I noticed this slim, delicate flower the first summer after I moved into my house. I thought, I’ll leave this alone and see what it turns into. Big mistake. Six
When good plants go bad Read More »
I really want a butterfly weed in my milkweed garden. Their bright, deep orange blossoms look spectacular against their dark green leaves, they’re a native plant for my area and they’re part of the milkweed family, so—butterflies! But alas, the one I planted a couple weeks ago promptly died. Where did I go wrong?! It’s
My plant died! What to do when things don’t work out in the garden Read More »
